Globetrotting council clocks up the air miles

THE main office holders of Limerick County Council have clocked up a huge amount of air travel over the past four years, with foreign trips costing the taxpayer a total of €41, 671.

On average, council chairpersons are spending up to €10,000 a year of the council’s budget on foreign trips.

The current incumbent, Councillor Kevin Sheahan, FF, has just returned from a trip to Hong Kong and Shanghai at a cost of €3,500. A senior official travelled with him at a similar cost.

He pressed ahead with the visit, despite the fact that a promised report on a previous trip to Shanghai, four years ago, has yet to see the light of day.

Mr Sheahan, whose term of office ends in June, has already completed six foreign trips.

Hie predecessor, Cllr Eddie Creighton, who wore the chain of office for 2006/2007, made four trips abroad.

Before that, Cllr Brigid Teefy clocked up eight foreign trips during her 12-month term, while a former TD, Cllr Eddie Wade, made four foreign visits when in office.

Destinations visited since June 2004, include New Brunswick, Chicago, Toledo, Sweden, Hehenlohe, Gdansk, Buffalo, Hungary, Newfoundland, New York, Washington, Rome, Chicago, Kansas, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

In addition to foreign travel expenses, the chairperson receives an allowance, currently standing at €42,000.

The council’s most extravagant foreign junket was undertaken in September 2004 when a party of eight, including two officials, headed to China at a cost of €32,000.

The mission was to develop links with the Jiading district of Shanghai, but it later emerged that the group spent much of the visit in Hong Kong.